Method and device for the targeted conveying of information to customers using cooking appliances and/or to cooking appliances of a cooking appliance manufacturer

ABSTRACT

A method for the targeted conveying of information to individuals using cooking appliances and/or to at least one cooking appliance of a cooking appliance manufacturer, the method having the following method steps: determining by the cooking appliance manufacturer the usage behavior of the customer(s) and/or the operating behaviour of the cooking appliance(s) and/or transferring to the cooking appliance manufacturer the usage behaviour of the individual(s) and/or the operating behaviour of the cooking appliance(s); saving at the cooking appliance manufacturer the determined usage behaviours of the customer or the operating behaviour of the cooking appliance(s) (GG 2 , GG 3 ); receiving information sent by cooperation partners of the cooking appliance manufacturer and/or receiving information established internally at the business; evaluating by the cooking appliance manufacturer the receiving information taking into consideration the saved usage or operating behavior to determine which of the items of received information and/or information established internally at the business could be of interest for which individuals or for which cooking appliance; and conveying the determined information of potential interest to the corresponding individual(s) and/or to the corresponding cooking appliance.

BACKGROUND 1. Field of the Disclosure

The disclosure relates to a method for the targeted communication ofinformation.

2. Discussion of the Background Art

Known from U.S. Pat. No. 7,092,988 B1 is a system in which a user in ahousehold utilizes an oven and communicates via a bidirectionalcommunication link with a service provider, which, in turn, communicateswith cooperating partners and specialized service providers. The servicepartner collects content that it receives from partners and from acollective database. This information can be further transmitted to theuser or else directly to the oven and the processing units thereof.

It is known from DE 102013204634 A1, for example, how to link thecontrol of a cooking appliance to a recipe database via an interface,wherein the interface can be designed as an Internet access.

WO 2014/118295 A1 describes a cooking appliance that has a viewingwindow in a cooking chamber door, wherein at least a part of the viewingwindow has a transparent display that is capable of displayinginformation. For this purpose, the cooking appliance can be equippedwith network interfaces and connections to external storage media, sothat information can be transferred to the cooking appliance.

DE 202010014337 U1 describes a cooking arrangement that is provided witha system for the interconnection and operation of various components, soas to simplify their support in the preparation of foods, whereby saidsystem monitors the cooking process by comparing diverse parameters anddetects, indicates, and/or acts on anomalies in order to avert damage orother hazardous situations, whereby the system can be linked to theInternet. Finally, DE 69933914 T2 discloses a household appliance that,as a primary household function, can have the “cooking” function, and,as a secondary function, enables the interaction with a communicationsportal. In order to induce the user of this household appliance toremain with said communications portal through the provision of a portalservice that is relevant to the preferences of the user, one examplethat is described in DE 69933914 T2 relates to an Internet portal thatprovides content or advertisement segments under the control of acontent transmission machine and/or an advertising machine, wherein theportal is linked to a user profile database, which affords authorizedusers access to this memory and provides output for the contenttransmission machine and/or the advertising machine in order tofine-tune the content and/or the advertisement in accordance with theknown preferences in a targeted manner.

Investigations that were conducted in the scope of the disclosure haverevealed that, in particular for the system that is known from U.S. Pat.No. 7,092,988 B1 as well as also for the example just mentioned, aproblem encountered in these and also other known kinds of informationcommunication is that this communication of information has beenpreviously conducted exclusively with the support of machines, such as,for example, by way of the previously mentioned advertising machineand/or a user profile database that supplies the output of the contenttransmission machine and/or the advertising machine. Since this purelymachine-supported communication of information dispenses with acontinually adjustable professional evaluation of the information and/oradvertising content that is available in principle so as to avoidflooding the user of such a cooking appliance with a large amount ofinformation and/or advertising content, because, in spite of theutilization of known preferences of a user, further constraints, suchas, for example, energy costs, technical problems related to appliances,handling difficulties, the use of different cooking methods, or else thecircumstance that a plurality of different users can utilize a cookingappliance and only the existence of one user who is the primary user ofthe cooking appliance can be taken into consideration, it is notpossible to take into consideration the user in a targeted manner duringthe communication of information.

The object of the disclosure is to create a method and a device for thecommunication of information to customers using cooking appliancesand/or to the cooking appliances themselves, the method and devicemaking it possible to conduct the communication of information in atargeted manner, which takes into consideration a plurality ofinfluencing parameters.

Before the principles of the method according to the disclosure areaddressed individually, it is noted that, in the scope of thisapplication, the term “cooking appliance” is understood to mean bothcommercial cooking appliances and also household appliances and,overall, quite generally comprises food processing appliances, which cancarry out both cold and hot treatments of foods and can comprise, forexample, hot-air steamers, combi steamers, automatic beveragedispensers, beverage mixers, microwave appliances, ice machines, andother food processing appliances.

SUMMARY

The method according to the disclosure is characterized, first of all,by the method step that the utilization behavior of the customer orcustomers is determined by the cooking appliance manufacturer itself.This affords the advantage that, based on the detailed knowledge of itscooking appliance that is being utilized by the user, the cookingappliance manufacturer is able to determine and evaluate the utilizationbehavior more effectively and in an appliance-specific manner, becauseonly the cooking appliance manufacturer knows precisely the influencethat one or another utilization behavior has on the utilization of itscooking appliance by the user. This process step alone thus makes itpossible to categorize precisely the utilization behavior, that is, toevaluate certain behaviors as being more important than other behaviorsor of ignoring certain behaviors in the case that said behaviors are ofextremely subordinate importance.

The same advantage ensues in the next step of the method, which relatesto the receipt of information that is sent to the cooking appliancemanufacturer from its cooperating partners, such as, for example,producers of seasonings, suppliers of accessories, or suppliers of rawingredients, and/or is received through information that is determinedin a company-internal manner, because, in this method step as well, thecooking appliance manufacturer itself is again able to evaluate thereceived information in a professional and targeted manner. Furthermore,it is also conceivable to utilize public services as cooperatingpartners, which, for example, can supply information relating to newlegal standards (for example, in the food sector) or relating to hygienerequirements.

The next step relates to the evaluation of the received information bythe cooking appliance manufacturer, taking into consideration the storedutilization behavior, in order to determine which pieces of receivedinformation and/or information determined in a company-internal mannermight be of interest to which customers, and, in regard to thepreviously mentioned advantages, is significant inasmuch that, by way ofthis evaluation, which again is conducted by the cooking appliancemanufacturer (and not by external machines), the quality of theevaluation result is optimized, because the evaluation by the cookingappliance manufacturer itself is necessarily substantially moreprofessional and targeted than when such an evaluation is carried out bypreprogrammed external machines. The last method step of thecommunication of specific information of potential interest to therespective customer or customers or to the respective cooking applianceaffords, above all, the advantage that a flood of information that is ofsubordinate interest or is even of no interest at all can be avoided andthis motivates the user to become aware of at least the information thathas been transmitted in a targeted manner, because the user knows thatthis information was evaluated beforehand by the cooking appliancemanufacturer and the user can thus assume that he receives onlyinformation that is of potential interest to him.

Thus, in an especially preferred embodiment, it is possible to displayinformation of potential interest at the cooking appliance itself and/orat a central or decentralized administrative site (for example,headquarters) and/or at mobile information devices, such as, forexample, mobile phones of the user.

Furthermore, the previously mentioned method approach affords thepossibility of adapting the communication of information to an currentoperating behavior of the user or of the cooking appliance in a nearreal-time manner, because, as mentioned previously, the evaluation ofinformation of potential interest is conducted by the cooking appliancemanufacturer itself, so that the cooking appliance manufacturer candetermine in an appreciably more real-time manner than an externalmachine, for example, whether a current operating behavior, such as, forexample, a short-term change in this operating behavior caused byincreased utilization necessitates or at least makes advisable a nearreal-time communication of information.

Furthermore, in another especially preferred embodiment of the methodaccording to the disclosure, it is possible for the evaluation to takeinto consideration information in the form of operating parameterinformation, which, for example, may concern an increase in a coretemperature, so as to avoid health risks. Such an increase in the coretemperature may be necessary, for example, in the case of poultrypreparations due to health aspects in order to kill germs and viruses byway of the increase in temperature, such as, for example, to kill avianinfluenza virus with certainty, even though the cooked food wouldalready be cooked perfectly at a lower temperature.

Furthermore, in another especially preferred embodiment, the methodaccording to the disclosure makes it possible for operators to take intoconsideration personalized information in the evaluation, in particularin regard to preferred cooked foods and cooking parameters and thisagain is based on the fact that the evaluation is carried out by thecooking appliance manufacturer itself.

Furthermore, it is possible that, during the evaluation, information ofan inventory control system is taken into consideration, and that, inanother especially preferred embodiment, the communicated information isdisplayed by way of a video output, via an audio output, and/or viapictograms.

Finally, in another especially preferred embodiment, the methodaccording to the disclosure also makes it possible, during theevaluation, to take into consideration compulsory or optional servicetraining and/or operator training, which, for example, is or areespecially important in the event of changes in the laws that mayinfluence the operation of a cooking appliance. This may relate, inparticular, to cleaning regulations, for which, for example,prohibitions of cleaning agents can ensue, whereby said cleaning agentswere permitted at a certain point in time, but, on account of thechanges in the laws, are no longer permitted to be used at a later pointin time. In this connection, it is also possible to take intoconsideration hygiene regulations (for example, HACCP).

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Further details, advantages, and features of the present disclosureensue from the following description of the method according to thedisclosure on the basis of the drawing. Shown therein is:

FIG. 1 a schematically highly simplified illustration for theexplanation of the principles of the method according to the disclosure,and

FIG. 2 a schematically highly simplified illustration of an embodimentof a device according to the disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

FIG. 1 shows in a schematically highly simplified manner a cookingappliance manufacturer GGH or the technical facilities thereof, which,in the exemplary case, can conduct a targeted communication ofinformation I1A and I1B to two cooking appliances GG1A and GG1B of acustomer K1 and/or directly to cooking appliances, which, in thedrawing, are identified by the reference characters GG2 and GG3,respectively. If a customer K1 is to be supplied with information, it ispossible to provide corresponding display devices on the cookingappliances GG1A and GG1B used by the customer K1, such as a control anddisplay unit MMI, which is illustrated by way of example, or to informthe customer K1 via mobile information devices MIG, such as, forexample, a mobile telephone of the customer K1.

The utilization behavior of the customer K1 is symbolized in the drawingby the reference characters NV1, while the operating behavior of thecooking appliances GG2 and GG3 is symbolized by the reference charactersNV2 and NV3.

The step of determining and transmitting the utilization behavior NV1 ofthe customer K1 or the operating behavior NV2, NV3 of the cookingappliances GG2 and GG3 is symbolized by the double arrows B1 to B3,according to which the specific utilization behavior NV1 or operatingbehaviors NV2, NV3 are stored at the cooking appliance manufacturer GGH,for which purpose a memory storage arrangement SP can be provided at thecooking appliance manufacturer GGH.

Furthermore, it is possible to receive information from cooperatingpartners KP1 and KP2, this being symbolized by the arrows E_(KP1),E_(KP2). This information of the cooperating partners KP1 and KP2 can bedelivered to the cooking appliance manufacturer GGH. Furthermore, thecooking appliance manufacturer GGH can receive informationE_(Bintern1,2) that is determined in a company-internal manner, such as,for example, information of employees that can be based on developmentwork or customer contacts. By way of example, a piece of informationEKP1 of a cooperating partner KP1 that markets seasonings could be thecommercial launch of a new seasoning mix that has been speciallydeveloped for chicken.

The evaluation A of the received information takes place by the cookingappliance manufacturer GGH, taking into consideration the storedutilization behavior NV1 of the customer K or the operating behaviorNV2, NV3 of the cooking appliances GG2 and GG3, so that it can bedetermined which of the received pieces of information and/or whichpieces of information that has been determined in a company-internalmanner might be of potential interest to which customer K or to whichcooking appliance GG2 or GG3. Thus, the cooking appliance manufacturerGGH, taking into consideration the stored utilization behavior NV1 ofthe customer K1, who is increasingly using chicken recipes, woulddisplay the information relating to the commercial launch of the newseasoning mixture in a targeted manner on the customer's cookingappliance.

This targeted evaluated information is delivered to the respectivecustomer K1 or to the respective cooking appliance GG2 or GG3 inaccordance with the arrows IV1, IV2, and IV3, respectively, whereby, inthe case of the communication of information to a customer K1, thisinformation can be displayed, for example, on a display of therespective cooking appliance GG1A or GG1B or, as stated, can be outputon a mobile information device MIG.

If the information is transferred to the cooking appliances GG2 and GG3themselves, it is possible for the respective cooking appliances toprocess this information in their cooking appliance control unit GS (seeFIG. 2) and, if needed or optionally, to implement it.

FIG. 1 further highlights that the cooking appliance manufacturer GGHcan communicate by way of signal with a central administrative siteZVST, to which the information that is also of interest can betransmitted. Oftentimes, the local or decentralized centraladministrative site ZVST is managed by a (culinary) manager M, whohimself or herself utilizes the cooking appliance GG only contingently.Therefore, the provision of the targeted information in the ZVST isespecially advantageous, because the (culinary) manager is oftentimesalso the responsible person and decision-maker in regard to the handlingof the transmitted information.

Furthermore, in the especially preferred embodiment illustrated in thedrawing, it is provided that the cooking appliance manufacturer GGH cancommunicate by way of signal with a local or decentralized inventorycontrol system WWSY in order to be able to take into considerationduring the evaluation any information passed on by a WWSY manager W, whomanages the inventory control system WWSY.

In addition to the method according to the disclosure, the disclosurefurther relates to a device 1 according to the disclosure for targetedcommunication of information to customers K1, K2, and/or K3 of cookingappliances GG or to the cooking appliances GG themselves, which areexplained below on the basis of FIG. 2. Illustrated in FIG. 2 in aschematically simplified manner is a cooking appliance GG. This cookingappliance GG has, in addition to the control and display unit MMI, whichis also referred to as a user interface with an input device and adisplay device, the also already mentioned cooking appliance controlunit GS, which is illustrated in a schematically simplified manner by ablock.

The cooking appliance GG further has a determination unit BE, with whichthe utilization behavior of persons operating the cooking appliance GGand/or the operating behavior of the cooking appliance GG itself is orare determined.

This information is transmitted to the cooking appliance manufacturerGGH or to the device 1 for the targeted communication of information,for which purpose the cooking appliance GG can be connected, forexample, to a network connection NWA via a data cable DK. For thispurpose, the cooking appliance GG can have a transmission unit UE, whichcan be connected via the data cable DK to the network connection NWA.

However, it is alternatively possible for the data transmission to berealized via a radio frequency connection, for which purpose thetransmission unit UE communicates by way of signal with or isoperatively connected to an internal or external antenna for radiofrequency transmission.

As illustrated in FIG. 2, the device 1 according to the disclosure canhave a computer 6, in which a memory storage device 7 is arranged forstoring the specific utilization behavior of the customer or theoperating behavior of the cooking appliance or cooking appliances GG atthe cooking appliance manufacturer GGH. The computer 6 further has ananalysis unit, which is symbolized in FIG. 2 in a schematicallysimplified manner by two analysis blocks 8, 9, which communicate withthe memory storage device 7 by way of signal or else are operativelyconnected to it.

The utilization behavior or operating behavior determined at the cookingappliance GG can be transmitted to a receiving device 4 of the device 1,for which purpose the previously explained network link or elsetransmission by radio frequency can be used. In the schematicallysimplified illustration of FIG. 2, the receiving device 4 is coupled toa transmission device 5, which also can transmit information either viaa network link or via a radio frequency link to the cooking applianceGG, for which purpose these two devices can either also be provided witha network connection or else be furnished with the antennas 4A and 5A,which are respectively illustrated in a schematically simplified manner.

In the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 2, the device 1 further has areceiving device 2, which, for example, can be a scanner, with whichinformation from cooperating partners can be received and is symbolizedin FIG. 2 by the sheet 3, which can be recorded by the scanner 2 andthis recorded information can be further transmitted to the memorystorage device 7 of the computer 6. However, information of this kindcan also be received via the receiving device 4 by means of networktransmission or radio frequency transmission.

Furthermore, the device 1, as illustrated in FIG. 2 by way of example,can comprise a PC work station 10, which can be furnished with akeyboard 11 and a display screen 12. This PC work station 10 can be usedto carry out further operating steps for the computer 6 and to displaythem via the display screen 12, for example, when the analysis unit 8, 9has evaluated the data received from the cooking appliance GG and theinformation received from cooperating partners. In this case, it ispossible for an operator to utilize the PC work station 10 to controlthe communication of information to the respective customer or customersor to the respective cooking appliance or cooking appliances GG.

In addition to the preceding written disclosure of the disclosure,reference is herewith made explicitly to the drawing illustration inFIGS. 1 and 2 for supplemental disclosure of the disclosure.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for the targeted communication ofinformation to a person using at least one cooking appliances or to atleast one cooking appliance comprising the following steps: determining(a) the utilization behavior of the person using the at least onecooking appliance or (b) the operating behavior of the at least onecooking appliance by the cooking appliance manufacturer; storing thespecific utilization behavior of (a) the person using the at least onecooking appliance or (b) the operating behavior of the at least onecooking appliance or cooking appliances at the cooking appliancemanufacturer; receiving of information by the cooking appliancemanufacturer (a) sent by cooperating partners of the cooking appliancemanufacturer or (b) determined in an internal manner at the cookingappliance manufacturer; evaluating the received information by thecooking appliance manufacturer, taking into consideration the storedutilization behavior or operating behavior, to determine whichinformation received or determined might be of interest to the personusing the at least one cooking appliance or to the cooking appliance;and communicating evaluated information that might be of interest to theperson using the at least one cooking appliance or to the respectivecooking appliance by the cooking appliance manufacturer.
 2. The methodaccording to claim 1, further comprising: displaying the informationthat might be of interest at a location selected from the groupconsisting of: the at least one cooking appliance, centraladministrative site, a mobile information device, an inventory controlsystem or any combinations thereof.
 3. The method according to claim 1,wherein the communicating of information is adapted to a currentoperating behavior (a) of the person using the at least one cookingappliance or (b) of the cooking appliance.
 4. The method according toclaim 1, wherein operating parameters selected from the group consistingof: an increase in a core temperature, adjustment of a cookingparameter, a cleaning parameter to avoid health risks and anycombinations thereof, are taken into consideration during the evaluatingstep.
 5. The method according to claim 1, wherein personalizedinformation comprising preferred cooked foods or cooking parameters bythe person using the at least one cooking appliance operators, is takeninto consideration during the evaluation step.
 6. The method accordingto claim 1, wherein, information of an inventory control system is takeninto consideration, during the evaluation step.
 7. The method accordingto claim 1, wherein the communicated information is displayed in amanner selected from the group consisting of: a video output, an audiooutput, pictograms or any combinations thereof.
 8. The method accordingto claim 1, wherein operator training or service training is taken intoconsideration during the evaluation step.
 9. A device for the targetedcommunication of information to a person using at least one cookingappliances or to at least one cooking appliance for conducting themethod according to claim 1, the device comprising: a memory storagedevice for storing at the cooking appliance manufacturer a utilizationbehavior of (a) the person using the at least one cooking device or (b)the operating behavior of the at least one cooking appliance; areceiving device for receiving information, determined by the cookingappliance, at the cooking appliance manufacturer of (a) the utilizationbehavior of the person using the at least one cooking device or (b) theoperating behavior of the cooking appliance, wherein the receivingdevice communicates with the cooking appliance by way of signal; areceiving device for receiving information at the cooking appliancemanufacturer (a) sent by cooperating partners of the cooking appliancemanufacturer or (b) determined in an internal manner at the cookingappliance manufacturer, wherein the receiving device communicates withthe memory storage device by way of signal; an analysis unit for theevaluation of the information at the cooking appliance manufacturerreceived from the cooperating partners or determined in the internalmanner, wherein the analysis unit communicates with the memory storagedevice by way of signal; and a transmission device at the cookingappliance device manufacturer that communicates with the analysis unitby way of signal and transmits evaluated information that might be ofinterest (a) to the person using the at least one cooking device personor (b) to at least one cooking appliance.
 10. The method according toclaim 1, wherein the determining is performed by transmitting theutilization behavior of the person using the at least one cookingappliance or of the operating behavior of the at least one cookingappliance to the cooking appliance manufacturer.
 11. The methodaccording to claim 8, wherein the operator training or service trainingis compulsory or optional.
 12. A method for the targeted communicationof information to a person using at least one cooking appliance or to atleast one cooking appliance comprising the following steps: determining(a) the utilization behavior of the person using the at least onecooking appliance or (b) the operating behavior of the at least onecooking appliance by the cooking appliance manufacturer; storing thespecific utilization behavior of (a) the person using the at least onecoking appliance or (b) the operating behavior of the at least onecooking appliance at the cooking appliance manufacturer; receivinginformation by the cooking appliance manufacturer (a) sent bycooperating partners of the cooking appliance manufacturer or (b) ofinformation determined in an internal manner at the cooking appliancemanufacturer; evaluating the received information by the cookingappliance manufacturer, taking into consideration the stored utilizationbehavior or operating behavior to determine which information receivedor determined might be of interest to the person is using the at leastone cooking appliance or to the cooking appliance; and communicatingevaluated information that might be of interest to the person using theat least one cooking appliance or to the respective cooking appliance bythe cooking appliance manufacturer, wherein the determining, storing,receiving, evaluating and communicating are performed only by thecooking appliance manufacturer.